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Originally Posted by BigRedBeta
Would likely depend on what's encoded on that extra set of chromosomes, and how well a fertilization would respond to that missing set of information. As far as humans go, monosomies are poorly, poorly tolerated and result uniformly in spontaneous abortion of the pregnancy. There are only three human Trisomies (having three of a particular set of chromosome) that result in a fetus compatible with extra-uterine life - 13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patau_syndrome ; 18 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward%27s_Syndrome ; and 21 - which is Down's syndrome. Edwards and Patau syndrome infants rarely live past a year. And yet, obviously Down's syndrome has a pretty variable prognosis and many individuals live long, fulfilling lives. So it's difficult to predict exactly what you're cross breeding experiment would beget. |
I'm finding this fascinating. You'll have to bear with me as I'm woefully ignorant in the sciences. (I did look up "trisomies" and "monosomies" though.) What I'm now wondering is why it would be so difficult to predict a cross breeding. If you match up like chromosomes between two different species wouldn't you at least know what wouldn't match up and result in monosomies?
(Hmm, as I'm writing this it's occuring to me why it would be difficult to predict.) I'm guessing that certain monosomies and trisomies would result in things we've never seen before?
What about with just in vitro fertilization of a human embryo into another primate?
Sorry for the silly questions. I'm just very curious.
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